Birding and other distractions

It was raining this morning so I waited until midday before leaving home, by which time the rain had eased. We started at Stodmarsh in the Reedbed hide from which very good views of Shoveler were possible, plus nine Snipe and briefly, a Green Sandpiper. From there we went to Grove Ferry, the main objective being to check the harrier roost towards the end of the day. In this respect arriving at 2:45 was perhaps a bit early so first checked the Feast Hide and surprisingly saw a male Hen Harrier at 3:15 which flew over the back of the reedbed. It then landed in the reedbed and presumably went to roost as the bird did not reappear. After that we transferred to the ramp to look for more harriers, though the next HH did not appear until 4:30. It was a ringtail, which promptly landed in the reedbed beyond the Feast Hide. The final HH was another male, rather late at 4:55 as by this time it was getting dark. This bird was closer than the previous two and briefly circled the reedbed before divi...

It's been a long time since my unfortunate dip of Killdeer in Anglesey (1994) so yesterday's news that one had been found at Ripley Farm in Hampshire was clearly of great interest! I waited for news this morning then set off, encountering the usual delays on the M25 in a journey that took 2.5 hours. The weather en-route was generally wet though had stopped raining on arrival near the farm. The bird was present on the far bank of the farm reservoir, and I was fortunate to see it through the 'scope soon after reaching the site. However, the view was distant so I walked a bit further on from where most of the birders were watching. Even so the Killdeer was still 2-300 metres away and was now facing away with just the top of it's head being visible. It stayed like that for the best part of an hour before walking along the grassy strip along the back of the reservoir and giving satisfactory views. There were many wildfowl on the reservoir, mostly Wigeon and Shoveler. Also pr...

A fairly brief visit to the fields west of Plain Road, Marden. The area encompasses four fields of set-aside with a tall hedgerow running through the middle in an east-west direction. Birds seen were generally similar to those on my visit last November. Y ellowhammers were again the highlight, about 40 being seen mostly in the NE corner of the area. A large flock of Linnet of about  100 birds was present. When not feeding in the fields they would sit in the tops of tall trees together with some 20 or so Chaffinch. Small numbers of Goldfinch and three Reed Bunting were also seen, plus a few winter thrushes which included one Fieldfare. Two Kestrel had a scrap on the ground in one of the fields, making a lot of noise in the process and I feared for the well-being of one of the birds. Yellowhammers

A cold though very sunny day started at Seasalter. No less than a Siberian Thrush had been found there yesterday at the north end of the RSPB reserve. Unfortunately there was no sign of it today, the search being made more difficult viewing south from the seawall and thus into the sun. By mid-morning we left Seasalter and went instead to look for Tundra Bean Geese which had been reported in the Upstreet/Sarre area. Three were seen albeit rather distant in an arable field together with two Mute Swans. Finally to New Hythe where a pair of Hooded Merganser were showing very well on the Tesco lake along Leybourne Lane. A first-winter male and a female, the birds were very active diving in search of food. There are clearly doubts concerning their providence as the mergansers were very approachable, nevertheless a delight to see. A Water Rail dashed out at one point near to where five Fulvous Whistling Ducks were resting up, possibly the same birds I saw at Sevenoaks Wildfowl Reserve a coupl...

A sunny morning which started with a visit to Otterham Creek, primarily to look for Spotted Redshank. The tide was turning though at the south end of the creek I found a Spot Red amongst Common Redshank feeding on the exposed mudflats. Approximately 800 Black-tailed Godwit were also present, the majority on the east bank. We then walked out to Motney Saltings to check out the river for sawbills and the like. There were indeed four Red-breasted Merganser including two drakes, though they were rather distant in the direction of Kingsnorth. Four Goldeneye were also seen, also including two drakes. They were east of Nor Marsh. Spotted Redshank 

A short visit to Dungeness after collecting a painting at Benenden. The weather was generally ok, cloudy but dry. The first stop was at the visitor centre where a large collection of gulls could be seen on the islands of Burrows Pit. The most numerous species by far was Great Black-backed Gull, with small numbers of Lesser Black-backed and several adult Yellow-legged Gull also present. A probable first-winter Caspian Gull was also found though the bird didn't hang around for long. On the ARC pit there were numerous ducks including a good quantity of Shoveler. Many Lapwing were there though few other waders. Four Great White Egret on the ARC made a total of five for the day, though strangely no Little Egret were seen. The final visit was to Walland Marsh where a dozen swans near Swamp Farm comprised two Whooper and 10 Bewick's. A flooded field along Midley Wall had attracted many Black-headed Gulls and amongst them a single Green Sandpiper. A Sparrowhawk flew through and surpris...